No fear.

I’ve been studying Proverbs 31:10-31 for the past several months. I started last January, but it’s taken me a while because I am so inconsistent with my quiet times. Even though I’ve stretched it out so far, I’ve been encouraged and challenged by the passage, especially this morning.

As I read over the entire passage again, a verse caught my eye that I’d totally missed a few months ago.

“When it snows, she has no fear for her household; for all of them are clothed in scarlet” (v.21).

When I read it before, all I could see was the obvious implication that the Proverbs 31 woman provides clothes for her family. I thought, “SHOOT! I can’t sew! Anytime I’ve tried, my stitches turn out crooked or I poke myself with the needle. Indeed, my family would be clothed in scarlet, but only because their clothes would be stained red with blood from my needle-pricked fingers. Get a freakin’ thimble. Gosh.

Today, instead of hearing a call to sew, I let the words “no fear” sink into my heart. I realized this woman does not worry. How very different she is from me! I worry about everything, from whether The Echo will get printed on time to whether I’ll have enough money to go to school to whether a certain guy thinks I’m special. But the Proverbs 31 woman doesn’t get caught up in all that. She’s confident.

Where does she get this confidence? I want some! Suddenly, I realized the answer was in the same verse. Her household (including herself) is “clothed in scarlet.” Christians always talk about how they’re covered by the blood of Jesus. Another word for “covered” is “clothed.” Blood is often described as “scarlet.” The Proverbs 31 woman found her confidence in God, in her salvation, in the hope she has in a life dedicated to Him. That is where I can find my confidence. I don’t need to worry anymore. I, too, can have no fear.